Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Scott H]

Medicated feed is not recommended if the rest of the flock has access to it. IMHO.

 

[3 NH reds]

I was wondering if anyone has moved a broody on day 19 or with hatched chicks? My broody is on day 19 or so but she is elevated in a nesting area still used by all the other hens.. I thought of moving her into a hop house with some young Rangers. there is lots of room there. my other option is to block it off if some hatch and access it from the outside. Could I move her chicks to the ground or does touching them make her leave? I hope this batch has some good eggs, last batch were 100% duds. Rooster got fired and his son is in, we also gave her some fertile Ranger eggs. Eggs are to dark to candle and momma broody strikes me if I get close.

 

[lablover]

So is the hen okay? Will her poop be back to normal if I take the medicated out?

 

[pmcatnip]

Moving the hen with eggs is a crap shoot. Some will stay and some will break. Moving the hen with chicks seems to be ok though at least in my experience.

 

[pmcatnip]

She'll be fine you just don't want to eat her eggs because they will be medicated eggs (I've heard people say it takes a month before you can eat them again). Since she is with chicks she's probably not laying right now anyway. I have done the same thing with my hens before, not really the best but we live and learn. What I've started doing based on others' advice is giving them developer feed (flock grower is the only sort available at my stores) and provide free choice oyster shell. Until the chicks grow up enough to be able to eat layer feed with everyone else.

 

[bumpercarr]

She'll be fine you just don't want to eat her eggs because they will be medicated eggs (I've heard people say it takes a month before you can eat them again). Since she is with chicks she's probably not laying right now anyway. I have done the same thing with my hens before, not really the best but we live and learn. What I've started doing based on others' advice is giving them developer feed (flock grower is the only sort available at my stores) and provide free choice oyster shell. Until the chicks grow up enough to be able to eat layer feed with everyone else.

Actually, there isn't any "medication" in medicated feed except for probiotics, which is a natural supplement that helps the digestive tract. If the hen has runny poo, it is probably because of the higher protein that is in chick starter or her system is still messed up a bit from sitting for 21 days or more. See this thread about medicated feed:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...s-on-medicated-chick-starter-feeds-for-layers

I feed the entire flock medicated chick starter when I have chicks out there, after two weeks, I put the entire flock back on grower feed. I keep oyster shell available for the layers. I always feed grower, regardless of what ages I have in my flock.

 

[lablover]

Well the medicated had amprolium (hope that's how it's spelled). It's a different brand than what I usually feed, but the whole flock does eat grower, with oyster shells available. It is funny that she keeps trying to feed them the food that she's used to eating. Obviously she does have a preference. Her poo contains slightly formed pieces, but mostly watery/runny stuff. The chicks poo is fine though.

 

[ochochicas]

I was wondering if anyone has moved a broody on day 19 or with hatched chicks? My broody is on day 19 or so but she is elevated in a nesting area still used by all the other hens.. I thought of moving her into a hop house with some young Rangers. there is lots of room there. my other option is to block it off if some hatch and access it from the outside. Could I move her chicks to the ground or does touching them make her leave? I hope this batch has some good eggs, last batch were 100% duds. Rooster got fired and his son is in, we also gave her some fertile Ranger eggs. Eggs are to dark to candle and momma broody strikes me if I get close.

At day 19 I definitely wouldn't risk moving her. Wait until the eggs hatch out and move her afterwards. I moved both my broodies a day after the eggs hatched. One moved to her own broody coop and the other had a dog kennel inside a horse stall. The chicks will mostly stay under mom for the first 24 hours (or more) so you shouldn't have to worry about them falling out. It could happen, but not too likely. I had one hyper chick who tried to get out of his nest, and he was the first to hatch so he had to wait for the others to come along. He still made it though.

 

[ochochicas]

Well the medicated had amprolium (hope that's how it's spelled). It's a different brand than what I usually feed, but the whole flock does eat grower, with oyster shells available. It is funny that she keeps trying to feed them the food that she's used to eating. Obviously she does have a preference. Her poo contains slightly formed pieces, but mostly watery/runny stuff. The chicks poo is fine though.

The chickens don't need the medicated feed unless something indicates they need the amprolium. I've never fed medicated feed, but I did put Corid in the water of the chicks I got from the feed store because they looked like they needed it. What else is your hen eating? Mine never really had runny poops. It doesn't seem normal, but it could be related to hormones or something she is lacking in the diet. My chicks are 5 weeks old and both broodies have normal green poops that are so big sometimes it looks like the pony got into the chicken stall. LOL

 

[lablover]

Well, as always, there are conflicting opinions. Some say that they should have it if on the ground which mine are. So I went with that. They free range, and spend a lot of time around the barn, so they're in a lot of horse poop, but nothing has changed that would be different for her. They get an oat/sunflower seed mix in the morning, and free range in the afternoon. Sometimes they're fed watermelon, but nothing else out of the ordinary.